Keeping Children With Food Allergies Safe & Healthy

Review: The New Milks Cookbook by Dina Cheney

The New Milks: 100-Plus Dairy-Free Recipes for Making and Cooking with Soy, Nut, Seed, Grain, and Coconut Milks is the latest cookbook from author Dina Cheney. As the title suggests, The New Milks contains over 100 dairy-free recipes ranging from breakfast to dinner and everything in between. This cookbook was specifically designed for people who are lactose intolerant or allergic to dairy, as well as people who are on special diets, such as vegan or low-sugar. Plant-based milks make a great substitution for cow’s milk. And who knew there were so many milk alternatives and so many ways to use them?

Dina Cheney is the author of several other cookbooks, including Mug Meals, Meatless All Day, Year Round Slow Cooker, Williams-Sonoma New Flavors for Salads, and Tasting Club. She has also developed recipes for several magazines. When Cheney found out she was lactose intolerant several years ago, she had to eliminate dairy from her diet. She began to experiment with plant-based milks and loved them. She then went on to write The New Milks and started its companion, a dairy-free resource website: www.thenewmilks.com.

Praise for The New Milks

The New Milks was published in May and could not have come at a better time. Food allergies are on the rise, and more people are becoming aware of others with food allergies and intolerances. People are loving the cover design (it IS pretty!) and say the recipes look and sound tempting.

Cheney says her favorite recipes to create were the puddings. Their ingredient lists are short and they are delicious. Perhaps the best thing about all of the recipes in this cookbook is that they are healthy (and allergy friendly, of course).

Where Food Allergies Come Into the Picture

First of all, the recipes are all dairy-free. Secondly, every recipe has alternate milk suggestions that you can use instead of the one in the ingredient list, should you need to. For example, if the recipe calls for an almond or cashew milk and you’re avoiding tree nuts, check for the alternate milk or milks listed at the end of the recipe. You may find that you can substitute soy milk instead.

In addition to The New Milks cookbook and website, Cheney’s salad cookbook and Meatless All Day cookbook offer recipes that are gluten-free and vegetarian. Cheney is also campaigning to get schools, restaurants and hotels to carry more dairy-free alternatives.

What We Thought About The New Milks

In the introduction, Cheney introduces the several types of plant-based milks, their nutrition facts, and the best uses for each milk. She then explains not only how to shop for plant-based milks, but how to make them at home as well.

There were so many recipes that looked and sounded amazing; I didn’t know where to start. So, I grabbed some post-it notes and flagged the recipes that appealed to me and my children the most. Then I selected two based off of what ingredients we had on hand. We made Paleo Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Cookies and Triple Chocolate Cupcakes. They both turned out well, but the Triple Chocolate Cupcakes were a huge hit with the whole family.

*Note: my son has an egg allergy as well as a dairy allergy. The cupcake recipe called for eggs. I substituted the eggs with a cornstarch/water substitute I use and they still turned out great.

I am excited to try more recipes from The New Milks cookbook, and also try my hand at making my own plant-based milk!

What Else Is Cheney Up To?

Cheney taught cooking classes in the past and is currently teaching plant-based milk cooking classes in schools in Manhattan. In the future, she is planning to do more wellness-oriented cooking, and more on the dairy-free front. She hosts the #MilklessMonday campaign on social media, where she also conducts product and book giveaways.

To find out more about Cheney, The New Milks cookbook, and plant-based milks in general, please visit www.thenewmilks.com. You can also follow her on Instagram (@thenewmilks), Twitter (@DinaCheney) and Facebook (dinacheney).